July 4/99 11:14 am - Calgary and Canmore news

Posted by Editoress on 07/4/99
 

Report from Calgary

Rob phoned from the Calgary Oval, where it is raining. The officials are in conference to how to handle it and we will report as soon as a decision has been made. The main concern seems to be getting the finals for the Sprint and the 500 metre completed. These 2 events are for Pan Am final team selections .

Reports from Canmore say nothing has improved since yesterday. It is still cold with rain, and occassional snow, falling. The major highway from ALberta to BC received 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of snow last night and the BC team (at the track) is wondering if they will be able to get home!


A Salute to the Spectators and Support Staff!!

Today's race was a challenge. The conditions were very cold (about 4 degrees C) and light to heavy rain. It even snowed for a while. The course held up quite well, but the main challenge was to finish mechanical free and not hypothermic. Despite the "challenging" conditions, there were a reported 1300 wildly cheering spectators. Even during the race, I couldn't believe the support! I'm proud to be a part of this country that supports their athletes no matter what the conditions!

The race started fast with a short start loop, and then followed by the technical climb to the top of the climb. The descent was wet, but still fast and those that had a good climb got a bit of a gap on those that didn't climb so well. I can't really report what happened at the front of the group, but I heard that Gunn Rita Dahle was riding comfortably to her first world cup win in '99. I started out a little slow with cold legs (which seemed to never warm up!), but gradually moved up to finish 9th. This puts me in 8th overall in the world cup series.

Chrissy Redden
Team Richey/Yahoo!


Dorion se gèle les doigts et termine 17e àCanmore

Canmore, Alberta-Mélanie Dorion a terminé au 17e rang de la Coupe du Monde de vélo de montagne de Canmore, en Alberta. La Norvégienne Gunn-Rita Dahle a gagné l'or en 1 h 52min 18s devant la Britannique Caroline Alexander et la Canadienne Alison Sydor. Dorion a terminé à13min 29s de la gagnante pour obtenir son meilleur résultat de l'année. Quant àMarie-Hélène Premont, elle a terminé au 32e rang.

Les conditions météorologiques étaient carrément médiocres lors de cette 7e épreuves de la Coupe du Monde de vélo de montagne. " Il a plu, il a neigé, il faisait froid; c'était terrible. " a indiqué Dorion après la course. " Pendant les 45 dernières minutes de la courses, je ne me sentais plus les mains tellement elles étaient gelées. àl'arrivée, j'ai craqué : je pleurais et je criais tellement mes mains me faisaient souffrir. "

Une fois dégelée, la cycliste de Deux-Montagnes trouvait des points positifs àsa course. " J'ai bien couru, je n'ai pas fait d'erreur et je roulais où plusieurs filles devaient marcher àcôté de leur vélo. àla fin, il s'agissait d'une course mentale contre le froid et je suis demeurée concentrée. De plus, je crois bien avoir la preuve que je suis de retour en santé. "

Dorion demeurera en Alberta où elle participera àune Coupe Canada la semaine prochaine.

Daniel Aucoin
L'Agence DIAPO
(514) 990-4500
danaucoin@videotron.ca
site Internet temporaire: www.diapo.qc.ca